The jingle of the door chime pierced through the silence of the saloon, turning the heads of both men towards the entrance. Yang stepped inside, taking a moment to look around. Like the previous roadside establishments she had stopped by, the place was rather small, with only three modestly sized wooden tables set so close together there would be no room to walk past them if the chairs paired with them were occupied. Fortunately, there was room to spare, with the only other patron a willowy man with black hair and orange eyes seated at the bar.
Their eyes met. His rugged face, made distinct by a trio of scars running parallel beneath his left eye, stayed motionless while his pupils ran up and down her body, as if sizing her up. He raised his brow and curled the corner of his lip up, as if her appearance amused him. Before she could speak up, he spun around on the stool, grabbed a bursting bag that clinked and clattered with the sounds of glass bottles, sauntered off to the chair furthest away from the door, and settled down to look out the window.
Yang turned her attention towards the man behind the bar: a portly man with balding, graying hair and a stubbly chin. "Good weather for traveling, innit, miss?" he remarked.
"Maybe a little too hot though," Yang replied, cracking a smile and fanning her head as she made her way over to the bar. "Can I get a nice big glass of water? Oh, and extra ice."
"Of course."
Yang chugged down the water as quickly as it had been prepared, though she couldn't but help to notice the bartender studying her face with furrowed brows all the while.
"Hey, aren't you that huntress student who busted up that kid's leg on live TV?" the bartender said as he rubbed his chin.
Memories of the Vytal Festival briefly flooded back into Yang's mind. "Yeah, I… I guess you could say that," she replied, eyes cast downward.
"Hoo boy, you really did a number on him," he chuckled back. "Though next time, if you're settling a grudge, you might want to do it off the camera."
"I didn't have a-" Yang stopped herself and sighed. "You know what? Forget it."
The bartender shrugged. "Whatever you say, miss. So, what brings a lone student all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"Mostly just passing by. I'm on my way to Haven."
"Headed to the academy?"
"You could say that."
"Well, I don't know if you know, missy, but this might be what you call a scenic route, and I'm not sure taking the scenic route is a good idea in a time like this," he said, scratching his head. "Ever since all that stuff in Vale, the Grimm have been going wild, and all the kingdom's huntsman are scrambling left and right to try to hold em down. Thanks to that, business has been pretty slow." He gestured towards the other patron.
"I know," Yang said, recalling her journey so far. Though she stayed on the main roads, she still encountered small packs of the foul monsters on multiple occasions. She could only imagine how much worse the situation was in the less civilized, less traveled areas. "But I'm also looking for someone, and I heard rumors she was in the area. The route's a little longer, but if I can find her, I might be able to kill two birds with one stone."
"Ah," the bartender said. "There aren't a lot of people around these parts though, little miss. What with the Grimm and the bandits and whatnot."
Yang's expression perked up. "The bandits, led by Raven Branwen, correct? She's who I'm looking for."
A series of coughs and hacks turned her attention to the other customer, who had apparently choked on his drink. Once he settled down, he returned his gaze back outside. However, Yang's intuition told her that as soon as she turned back towards the bartender, the willowy man's eyes bored into the back of her head.
The bartender's expression turned grim. He shook his head. "I suggest you don't go poking a Lancer's nest, little miss. Even most of the kingdom's licensed huntsmen don't want to go around messing with them nowadays, and those are the pros. A kiddo like you? They're way above your pay grade. You're going to be throwing your life away, and that's if you actually manage to find them."
It was Yang's turn to shake her head. "I'm not looking for a fight."
He raised his brow. "Then what're you doing looking for the Raven Branwen? What, huntress training not working out, so you're deciding on being a bandit?" He snorted at the idea.
"No, it's… It's for another reason," Yang said, sighing. "So do you know where they are, or not?"
"Of course not. I'm not stupid enough to go mess around and piss off some bandits. Ain't that right, Rook?" he replied, turning his gaze towards the other customer.
The willowy man scoffed. "Ain't anybody that stupid and still alive around here."
"Well, you heard it. Best for you to drop that search of yours and head straight to Haven."
Yang sighed. It didn't seem likely the bartender would say anymore regarding the matter. She'd simply have to try the next stop for more information. "Thanks for the advice, I guess," she said as she stood up. "Do you have a restroom I can use?"
He pointed at the unmarked door directly behind the man named Rook. With a nod, she made her way to the restroom, failing to notice the look that the two men gave each other as she went in.
Like the rest of the establishment, the bathroom was cramped and rather bare boned, with barely enough room for one to turn without making contact with either the sink or the walls. Yang chuckled at the image of the portly bartender trying to fit in the small space as she rested her hands on the sink. Thoughts of her last conversation with her father ran through her mind.
"If you're headed to Haven, then I think you should know this," Tai said, crossing his arms as he leaned against the door. He closed his eyes, and inhaled and exhaled sharply. "Your… your mother is in Mistral."
Yang's eyes widened.
"Yeah, kinda explains why you never found much about her around here or Vale, huh? 'I'm sorry Yang, but your mother is on another continent'," Tai laughed. Before Yang could roll her eyes at the joke, he cleared his throat and continued. "I know we've never really talked about your mother in all these years. Heck, I'm willing to bet your uncle's talked about her more than me. But… you're an adult now, and if you still want to find her, then it's not really my place to go and stop you."
It was his turn for his eyes to widen, as Yang approached and promptly embraced him. "Thanks, dad," she whispered. "Not just for this, but for these past couple of months too."
"Anything for my baby girls," he whispered back, gently patting the back of her head.
"Are you sure you want me to go looking for Raven, though? I don't know if you've heard Uncle Qrow, but he's always calling her dangerous."
"Well, I don't know if I'd say I want you to go looking for her, and your uncle wasn't lying. She can get pretty… dangerous, especially if you get on her bad side. Kind of like you."
"Hey!"
Tai laughed. "But I think she'll make an exception for you. Just don't go trying your hardest to push her buttons."
She snorted. "Alright dad, I'll keep that in mind."
"Besides," he said, breaking the embrace with a somber smile on his face. "There are probably questions you have that only she can answer."
Yang's mind snapped back to the present. She frowned. Though the prospect of finding her mother had seemed likely when she first landed in Mistral, it seemed that the closer she got to the bandits, the less the citizens were willing to talk about them. She could only guess how long it might take to track them down by herself.
"Maybe I should just head straight to Haven," she muttered. She stared at the reflection of her in the mirror as she pondered her next course of action. "You know what? If I don't get a good clue in one more day, I'll just go find Ruby."
After giving her face a quick wash, she left the restroom. That other guy must have left while I was inside, she thought. Only the portly bartender remained in the saloon, wiping down a drinking glass.
"I'm going to be on my way. How much for the water?" she asked.
The bartender gave a wave of his hand. "It's just some water. Think of it as on the house as long as you take care of any Grimm on the road."
"Oh, thanks," Yang said. "Don't worry, I'll make sure I beat down any I see." With an acknowledging nod and a jingle of the door chime, she left the establishment.
The heat of the outside air crashed over her as soon as she stepped out. She let out a heavy sigh, wondering how long it would take for her to reach the next stop as she started up Bumblebee. Two revs later, the motorcycle roared into action, and the saloon quickly disappeared behind her.
Barely a minute passed before she felt something amiss. Out of the corner of her eyes, she sensed a shadow moving among the trees to the side of the road. She stepped on the gas. The motorcycle surged forth until it ran at twice its previous speed, yet the shadow continued to keep at her pace. There was no doubt about it. Whoever, or whatever it was, was following her.
Yang activated her aura and brought the vehicle to a screeching halt. She leapt off, cocking the shotguns of her gauntlets in midair. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she brought herself to fighting stance facing the tree line. "I know you're there. Show yourself!" she yelled out. When no response came, she cocked Ember Celica a second time.
"You know, now that I can get a real good look at you, I have to say, you really are a spitting image of her." The rough voice dripped of derisiveness. The bushes rustled, and out stepped the owner of the voice.
"You… You're the man from the bar," Yang said. There was no mistaking the three horizontal scars beneath those orange eyes of his. "Your name's Rook, isn't it?"
The willowy man smirked and set his bag on the floor. He took a moment to brush some leaves off the shoulders of his gray, button-less, zipper-less jacket and his pony-tail with his black gloved hands. "Correct. And you are Yang Xiaolong, the one and only daughter of our very own Raven Branwen, aren't you?"
Yang's eyes narrowed. "Our Raven Branwen? Are you supposed to be one of her men?"
"You could say that." He crossed his arms. "If you're looking for your dear little mother, then I suggest you follow me."
"How do I know you're actually leading me to her?"
He snorted. "You don't. You can either trust me and hope I lead you to your mother, or you don't trust me, continue running along to wherever you're headed, and risk losing the only chance you'll ever have of finding her."
She stared into his eyes for a full minute before she lowered her arms. Thinking back to the time in the saloon, she had noticed him watching her the moment she stepped foot inside. There was little doubt now it was because he saw the similarities between mother and daughter. "Alright, lead the way."
Rook shook his head and finger. "Ah ah ah, not so fast kiddo. You see, our people follow one very important rule. The strong live, the weak die. And there are no exceptions, not even for her daughter." He paused to begin cracking his knuckles one by one. "You don't get to see her just because you get a little lucky and run into me. You're going to have to prove yourself worthy, first."
"So what, you won't do it unless I beat you down first?" Yang said, returning to a fighting stance.
"Well, aren't you brimming with confidence?" He chuckled, the smirk on his face irritating Yang the longer she saw it. "But confidence can only bring you so far, and it definitely won't bring you that far. Don't worry though, you'll only have to impress me, and I promise I won't go all out."
She growled. "I'll do more than that."
She combined her leap with the recoil from a blast behind her, closing the distance between them in a fraction of a second. Her other fist, aiming for the obnoxious smirk on his face, missed its target as he stepped backwards. He was certainly a fast opponent, though she expected nothing less.
She immediately transitioned her momentum into a roundhouse kick aimed at his center of mass. He dodged the attack with relative ease, and continued to dodge the flurry of jabs and hooks she threw at him with the smallest of movements such that each blow missed by less than an inch. The expression on his face never changed even as he began to use his hands to block and redirect the accelerating number of punches she launched. From the way he moved to the way he acted, he reminded her of an old opponent whom she suffered a total defeat from, and the memories only served to spur her to fight faster, harder, and smarter than in the past.
With a snort, he leapt a dozen feet back. She followed him closely, never letting up her assault in an attempt to deprive him of room to breath. He had yet to draw his weapons: a set of small knives strapped with a belt, and she had no intention of allowing him to do so now.
Don't give him the chance to go on the offensive, she thought. She began to incorporate blasts from her guns halfway through punches, relying on the supersonic speed of the bullets to strike faster than she could, and then shooting again out the back of her gauntlets to immediately follow through with recoil-boosted swings.
Two such attacks later, she earned herself a mildly surprised face from him. With nothing but his bare hands to shield himself, her tactics finally managed to begin chipping away at his aura with increasing numbers of clipping blows. He blocked one more jab and dodged one more hook before retaliating with a forceful elbow into her side, pushing her multiple feet backwards.
"Heh, well, you certainly aren't a pushover on the offense, but let's see how you do on the defense," he said, now taking up a fighting stance and returning the smirk to his face.
"Shut up," Yang snarled back, punching forwards twice and firing two shots at his person.
The bullets whistled through the air before striking the ground where he had stood a moment before. He leapt high into the air, the debris and shrapnel barely missing his legs.
She had guessed he would evade in such a manner. Making such a large leap left him vulnerable in the air, unable to take further evasive maneuvers until he made contact with the ground again. Her eyes lighting up at the opening, she whipped her arms behind her and fired away, the recoil from Ember Celica propelling her into him with a readied fist.
But this time, she met an invisible force to her collarbones only inches away from his face, nearly knocking the wind out of her from the sheer surprise and actually knocking her back onto the dirt.
She rapidly righted herself to see him begin to throw a series of lightning fast jabs into the air in front of him. She would have wondered what he was doing, if not for the string of blows she felt targeted at her gut. Five, six, seven, eight consecutive hits to her stomach in the span of a second before a large haymaker from his position sent an equally large strike to the side of her ribs and sent her crashing multiple feet away.
"Careful there, kiddo. I said I won't use my full strength," Rook said, his fists up close to his face now. "But that doesn't mean this won't hurt."
Yang blinked as she scrutinized her opponent. His hands were still bare, and she saw no projectiles come from his person. How was he hitting her from such a range? Could it be his semblance? But what kind of semblance could allow him to strike her with no visual indications? Her mind raced through the possibilities. Could it be he emitted shockwaves with each of his attacks?
Keeping her eyes laser focused on the movements of his arms, she tanked two more invisible hits to her gut before managing to roll and absorb the force of one and counter a wide swing with a swing of her own. She leapt to her right, taking care to fire twice with Ember Celica while in the air. He dodged the first shot with relative ease, though the second shot exploded in front of his feet, enshrouding him in smoke and dust.
Now's my chance, she thought. Once more, she propelled herself forward by shooting behind her, landing to the side of the smoke. Stay on him, don't let him get to use his semblance, she reminded herself as she reared her right arm in preparation for a hook.
But the dust settled just in time for her to see a smirk on his face as he parried the hook with a sideways knee, Worse, a heavy force to her head accompanied the parry, sending her six feet back on her bottom.
She barely had time to wonder where the force came from before he returned to punching the air. This time, however, the blows came from the side rather than her front, and she suffered three blows to her ribs and one more blow to her head with no chance to counter them.
"Nice try, but you won't be blocking these that easily."
And indeed, when she brought her forearms up in an attempt to block a series of jabs that seemed to be aimed at her chest, she instead felt them striking the left and right of her stomach in rapid succession. An axe kick in which she tried to cover her head for instead struck her between her collarbones, knocking her down onto the ground and the wind out of her lungs.
"But you know, as far as city folk go, you're not too shabby," Rook chuckled, crossing his arms as Yang pushed herself back up. "Though, as far as her daughter, I expected at least a little more than that."
"I said, shut up," she snarled, her teeth clenched as tightly as her fists. She still had a little less than half her aura remaining, and the repeated hits she tanked lay ready for her to activate her semblance. All she had to do was…
The swing of a sword. The splattering of blood. The smoke, the ashes, the hotness of the ground upon her cheeks. She gasped as the memories flashed through her head. Her left hand trembled.
"Relax, you passed the test," he said, smiling. "Barely, but you passed. Besides, it's a long road ahead of us, with plenty of Grimm to take care of, so running out of aura would probably be a bad idea."
She watched him as he uncrossed his arms and strolled back to pick up his bag, her thoughts jumbled. Should she be relieved the fight was over before she used her semblance? The idea of rushing forwards seemed an unappealing idea with those horrid memories in mind, yet she failed even with all that effort to wipe the stupid smirk off his face.
With a sigh and a deep breath, she calmed herself down and unarmed Ember Celica, making her way back to her motorcycle.
"Well then, shall we?" he said, bowing. No doubt another way of mocking her.
She turned to look at the seat behind her. "Aren't you going to get on?"
"No, unlike you, I don't get winded after a short spar. Now, do your best to keep up," he chuckled as he spun around and sprinted into the trees.
Yang inhaled sharply, frowning once more at his cheeky grin. Only the prospect of finally getting answers for the million questions she reserved for her birth mother stopped her from throttling the man. She started up Bumblebee and followed him off the road into the great unknown.
